Name: Boiled Puddings
Ingredients: beef steak, tenderized and cut into portions; 2-3 dozen oysters, cleaned and washed; beef kidney suet for crust; veal fat, sliced; seasoning to taste

Why it works: Beef and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Boiled Puddings

Ingredients

beef steak, tenderized and cut into portions
2-3 dozen oysters, cleaned and washed
beef kidney suet for crust
veal fat, sliced
seasoning to taste

Directions

Tenderize the beef steak with a rolling pin and cut into portions the size of two fingers.
Clean the oysters by removing the gills and washing them in their own liquor, then strain the liquor.
Prepare the crust using beef kidney suet.
Layer the beef, oysters, and veal fat in the crust, seasoning each layer.
Pour the strained oyster liquor into the pudding before sealing it.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Oyster + vealtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together988 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Beef + oystertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together798 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).